On Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, coordinated bombings targeted churches, hotels and other sites, killing more than 290 people and injuring roughly 500 others.

The attacks in Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, are the largest carried out on South Asian Christians in recent memory.

What we know about the attacks

• The explosions began around 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, and the deadliest appeared to be at St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo. The other churches attacked were St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo and Zion Church in Batticaloa. There were also explosions Sunday morning at three hotels in the capital city of Colombo: the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury.

Sri Lanka Bombing Maps: What We Know About the Attack Sites

The attacks struck churches, five-star hotels and other sites in multiple cities.

• More explosions followed in the afternoon, all in Colombo. The first was at the Tropical Inn, a small hotel not far from the national zoo in the suburb of Dehiwala. There was also at least one explosion at a housing complex in another suburb, Dematagoda.

• At least 290 people were killed and roughly 500 wounded in the day’s attacks, the police said. At least 36 of the dead were foreigners, several of them American, the authorities said. Others were British, Chinese, Dutch, Indian, Portuguese, Japanese and Turkish citizens, according to officials and news reports.

• The government on Monday blamed National Thowheeth Jama’ath, a little-known radical Islamic terror organization, for the attacks. Ten days ago, a police official warned of a threat on churches by the group, but the authorities failed to act on the information.

• Twenty-four suspects were held in connection with the bombings, the authorities said. The government said suicide bombers had set off the explosions. Three officers were killed hunting for the attackers at a housing complex.

• Sri Lanka temporarily blocked major social media and messaging services, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, to curb the spread of misinformation.

• The government on Monday imposed a dusk-to-dawn nationwide curfew for the second day in a row.

[Follow our live updates on the bombings.]

What we don’t know about the attacks

• Who the 24 people being held in connection with the attacks are.

• What steps the authorities took to try to forestall an attack after the advisory a week and a half ago about a potential threat.

• Why Catholics appear to have been singled out in the bombings.

Source: Read Full Article